I know, you don’t want to spend any more money on the PMP test. But investing $30 in an official ProMetric Test Drive may be your best choice. You pay your money, you schedule a visit, you take a 30 minute test (it doesn’t count), AND you can ask questions of the staff.

(I do not receive any money for encouraging you to take a Prometric Test Drive.)

YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO READ THIS NEXT ITEM !!!

After I wrote this blog post, a reader named Keith Motz, PMP, made a comment on the blog post. You can read his entire comment at the end of this blog post but here is part of it. Read it!

I would add one suggestion to your list. I passed the exam in August 2015, first try. In addition to checking traffic conditions to the test site on the day and time that you will be taking the exam, quiz the staff about the “test taker traffic” at the test center. Our center had about 40 seats and one bathroom! You do the math, as they say. A bathroom break in a full test center will be potentially much longer than one in a not so full test center. A bathroom break requires check in/check out.

So before you schedule your PMP test, make a knowledgeable decision about how busy your test center will be on your preferred test day.

In the U.S., if you have accidentally scheduled your PMP test on a popular MCAT test date (Medical College Admission Test), you may be very unhappy. ProMetric test centers are NOT just for the PMP. They accomodate all kinds of tests and the crowds at the ProMetric test centers will vary.

(And thanks to Keith Motz, PMP, for this great piece of advice. Again, read his entire comment at the end of this blog post.)

2 – Schedule your PMP Test Date

Considering all these factors, then schedule your PMP test date and time.

Test Center Activity – You have researched the busy days at your ProMetric test center. You are avoiding days that are crowded with other test takers.

PMP Test Project Plan – You are scheduling the test when you are ready or expect to be ready to take the PMP test. Your test date “fits within” the project plan you built for yourself to pass the PMP.

Travel Time – You have considered how long it will take to travel from your home to the test center.

Morning, afternoon, or evening – You are scheduling the test for your best test time. If you’re a bad morning person, schedule the test for the afternoon or evening.

3 – Change Your Eating Habits to Prepare for PMP Test Day

I am not a dietitian, but I do know that you need to eat properly before a big event, like a test.

Didn’t your mother encourage you to eat a good breakfast before you went to school?

Since I knew that my PMP test report time was 12:30 PM, about 1-2 weeks before the PMP test, I started having a light lunch around 11 AM every morning. It was a healthy lunch/breakfast with protein, carbohydrates, a dash of fruit.

Taking the PMP test on an empty stomach or on a bloated stomach is NOT a good idea.

4 – Take two 4 hour practice tests at your scheduled PMP test time

Okay, you have trained your body to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner at the right time of day prior to the PMP test.

Now you need to train your body to sit for 4 hours working hard on a practice PMP test at 9 AM, 1 PM, or 6 PM. Even though you might report to ProMetric at 8:30 AM, the test won’t begin until approximately 9 AM.

If you don’t plan on using the bathroom for four hours, that’s how you should take your 4 hour practice test at 9 AM, 1 PM, or 6 PM.

Yes, that’s exactly how I practiced two weeks out from my PMP test. I was able to complete all 200 questions on two 4 hour practice tests without using the bathroom. If you think you will need to take a bathroom break in the middle of the test, allocate 15 minutes of LOST TEST TIME.

6 – Drive to ProMetric Before Your PMP Test Day

If you have an 8:30 AM start time at your test center for a weekday, you need to drive to that location to make sure you can find it in a timely fashion, find parking, and enter the test building five minutes before 8:30 AM.

Have you ever driven or travelled to a business appointment and become lost? I know, you have GPS. But GPS may not tell you that parking is difficult at that time of day.

Or if you use public transportation as I did to travel to my downtown Chicago test site, I allocated enough time in case the train had a problem. (Chicago public transit is about 90 per cent on time.)

7 – Visit the ProMetric Test Site

Since you’re there, you might as well go to the 2nd or 3rd floor, introduce yourself, and they will politely thank you for coming and ask you to leave if you don’t have an Official ProMetric Test Drive.

At least you are absolutely sure of both the location and the actual part of the building for the ProMetric test location.

8 – Cancel the PMP Test if You are Sick

It’s foolishness to take the PMP test if you are sick the day before the test.

You won’t do well on the test and you might make other people sick.

Why would you take a test if you are sick? Cancel the test immediately the day before the class.

“Richard, I don’t Need This Preparation to Pass the PMP”

Yes, you do.

Please Leave a Comment

Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

And if you liked the concrete, practical advice in this blog post, just imagine how well you will be prepared if you become a PMP Test Prep client of mine.

Comments

I am glad that you have written about this very important piece of preparation that can very easily be overlooked. Trust me it is not easy to sit and concentrate for 4 hours with the pressure that the exam has already put on you.
Any practice test given at home should be taken without interruptions for 4 hours. I did take a 15 min break during my PMP test after 3 hours. I had planned on doing that all along.

The key learning from this post should be that on the day of the test one must feel relaxed and know in their minds that everything is going as they planned and it’s just another test that they are going to attempt. I know it’s easier said than done but a relaxed mind will give you the best chance of clearing this test.

All good ideas Richard. Your tips are well thought out and insightful. The product of someone who has prepared for and passed the exam themselves. Anyone who underestimates the rigor of sitting for this exam is asking to be unsuccessful. I wonder what the pass/fail ratio is for first time takers? I don’t think PMI discloses those figures?

I would add one suggestion to your list. I passed the exam in August 2015, first try. In addition to checking traffic conditions to the test site on the day and time that you will be taking the exam, quiz the staff about the “test taker traffic” at the test center. Our center had about 40 seats and one bathroom! You do the math, as they say. A bathroom break in a full test center will be potentially much longer than one in a not so full test center. A bathroom break requires check in/check out. Prometric does not guarantee how long checking in and out will take, a risk for the test taker. Prometric does an excellent job of administering the exam based on my experience. But they are captive to how many people are in the center at any one time and what types of exams are being given at a particular time. Not all the exams are for PMI. They have many different durations and times of the week/year when they are administered. For example MCAT’s were being administered when I did my test drive. The staff volunteered that it was good I was taking my test a week or two after the MCAT wave would be past. Also, starting my exam first thing on a weekday morning was not advised as many business employees came in at that time for new employee orientation exams. Their duration was short though, 1 to 2 hours, so could be avoided easily by starting a little later. Discuss schedule with the staff at the test drive to get ideas of what will work best with your and their schedule. Again, they were very helpful when I asked them questions at a non busy time. If you are easily distracted, when you do the test drive, ask if you can be placed in a seat as far removed as possible from the testing room door. That way people entering and leaving the test room before and after exams and on breaks will not be passing by your seat, causing distraction. Hope this helps!

Richard this is spot on. I did the majority of what you discussed in your blog and it definitely helped me on the day I took my test. Especially, going to the site ahead of time and scheduling at a good time that suits you.

Thank you for providing your exam preparation methodology on YouTube and I followed your advice on taking practice exams and then creating screen shots and subsequent notes on incorrect or marked questions. This was invaluable in my preparation!